Hugh Laurie is such a powerful presence on ''House'' that it's sometimes easy to ignore the show around him. And in the early going, I think the show leaned on that idea -- letting the character's appeal carry the day when the plots were not as strong as they should be.

A critic once summed up ''The Empire Strikes Back'' as a very long trailer for ''Return of the Jedi.'' Tonight I watched a ''West Wing'' episode that was an hour-long trailer for next week's ''West Wing.'' Most of the time I didn't mind.

My wife was channel-searching tonight for something to have on TV while she finished a chore. You know the kind of program. Something either familiar or undemanding, something that works as company but that doesn't require your full commitment.

As I said in a previous post, I've had the TV blahs this week. And on Thursday night, ''Survivor'' just added to the feeling. But before I went to sleep, I gave one more show a chance, pulling ''Everybody Hates Chris'' off the DVR. And felt better for doing it. What a good show -- funny, sweet, unpredictable, with characters I'm happy to spend a half-hour with every week. If you haven't found the show yet, you get a couple of chances next week -- in the show's regular time slot at 8 p.m. Thursday, and in back-to-back reruns from 9 to 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Over the years, when a new ''Star Trek'' series was unveiled, at least one reporter would ask about the show's underrepresenting gay characters. It was a reasonable question, and you couldn't really count that ''Deep Space Nine'' episode where Kira's parallel-universe self was attracted to her.

Well, tonight was one of those ''Survivor'' episodes where it's obvious at the end that the editors held back crucial information. Amy was voted off, and it wasn't close, and all we saw going into the vote was her attempt at forming an elimination-proof alliance -- not the other alliance that easily trumped hers.

With the availability of information across the Internet, some news organizations across media have become ever more focused on the local angle -- either a story about something in the news organization's backyard, or a local element of a national or international story. It provides a way of giving a story a unique context, as well as connecting with readers. To cite an obvious recent example, I have written a lot about ''Three Wishes'' because it has taped a bunch of segments here.

Has ''Logan'' gotten a bad name? Think of Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) on ''Gilmore Girls,'' who is so bad for Rory. And troubled, cynical Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) on ''Veronica Mars.'' And, if you've read some of my e-mail lately, you would add Mike Logan (Chris Noth) on ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent.'' Some fans of the show consider him a wan alternative to Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), now seen in about half the ''CI'' episodes. Maybe they'd like him better if he wasn't a Logan. ...

When I go on vacation, it usually takes me a couple of days to start relaxing for real; naturally, by then I can see the end of the vacation and begin agonizing over all I'll have to do when I get back. I am, in other words, not a good vacationer. A day off -- like today -- comes with an undercurrent of dread over all the things I will have to do when I go back to work. And, just as it is with a vacation, it can take me about eight hours to feel that a day off is a real day off. Right about at the eight-hour mark today, I was finally cruising into nap-land. Of course, the phone rang.

When I was thinking ahead about my DVD column for today, I expected to make ''American Gothic'' my pick of the week. I loved the thriller when it aired on CBS in 1995-96. As I have said here before, it may well have been ahead of its time, ''Lost'' a decade too soon. Shaun Cassidy, the ''Gothic'' writer-producer now in charge of ABC's ''Invasion,'' agrees. (See my Aug. 1 post, '' 'Gothic' Revival? 'Popular' Remade?)

On Thursday, I sat in on a conference call with Lucy Lawless about ''Vampire Bats,'' a CBS movie she's co-starring in. It was not heavily attended. In these calls, you punch in a code to get in line to ask a question; I punched in well after other people had had a chance, so things would be rolling before I began talking, and still ended up second in line. The reporter who was first in line sounded very surprised to be there. And while such calls start with a warning that you should ask one question and one follow-up, it was possible to ask a bit more -- since it was clear there weren't many people waiting, and Lawless's conversational style pretty much invited more back-and-forth.

I was looking at an upcoming re-release of ''Sex and the City'' on DVD when I noticed a significant change in one episode. Samantha, a social outcast after a prominent matron caught her with the matron's husband, redeemed herself by making contact with John F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy himself did not appear in the episode, being presented instead as a figure in a shining light; it was a funny little bit.

A couple of calls have come in this morning from people wanting to donate books to a library that ''Three Wishes'' helped set up in Mineral City. (I have a story about it in today's Beacon Journal, which you should be able to see here.)

One of the landmarks in local TV history will be celebrated yet again, as the following release from Cleveland's WEWS (Channel 5) reveals. I wonder if Don Webster will dip into his fabulous turtleneck collection -- or even buy a new one.

Back in 1980, Charles Rocket was set to be the next big star to come out of ''Saturday Night Live,'' a combination of Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. It didn't quite work out that way. Instead, to the extent that he is remembered at all, he is remembered for saying the f-word on live TV.

Fox's carrying the baseball playoffs and World Series has bumped a lot of its regular series off the air (and forced baseball fans to sit through promos that boil down to ''please remember that our shows are coming back''). But a promo is no substitute for an actual episode. Maybe the following ideas will help more.

It has been increasingly easy to believe that Stephenie really does have one of those little clouds over her head, especially given the way the reward challenge went in tonight's episode. It was a wipeout so thorough, it was like her cumulative experience from ''Survivor'' rolled into a single challenge. She didn't even get a chance to show her grit and rally her tribe -- the sharp stone was in someone else's hand.

I wasn't much impressed with ''Commander in Chief'' when I saw the pilot, but I saw enough good things that I decided to watch more and on Wednesday checked out two more episodes. In the interim, the show has become a nice hit for ABC and even sparked discussions about the way the show might help a presidential campaign by Hillary Clinton.

Nice one tonight. I get so caught up in the questions about the story, I sometimes forget that ''Lost'' can also be quite touching. It certainly was tonight, by putting Hurley at the center; as even one of the characters acknowledged, he's probably the best-liked character on the show. Even his flaws are benign. So having his crisis over the food lead to a moment of collective joy -- well, it was nice. Not entirely believable, of course; in a group that large you have to figure a couple of killjoys would demand either outright rationing or at least an equitable distribution of the goods -- not some handing out of gifts like ''Night of the Meek.''

The New York Times has a story about declining audiences for reality shows. You can find it here. Lots of theories to be found there, but I think there's a simple explanation. The key shows being discussed just aren't that good right now.

I saw some of the Browns game today, but neither the go-ahead score nor the follow-up that put them out of reach. I did see the game-winning home run in the 18th inning of that Atlanta-Houston playoff game, but only after I read online that it was turning into an epic. Watched some of ''A Few Good Men'' for the thousandth time while relaxing after dinner. I may get through ''Desperate Housewives'' and ''Grey's Anatomy'' tonight; if sleep overtakes, the DVR is already set for both of them.

Finally got to this week's ''Gilmore Girls.'' You know the scene where Lorelai is going through her videotapes and won't get rid of anything? That's me, except that she did a much better job of labeling her tapes.

Last week I griped about the season's second episode, which felt like a time-filler after the season premiere. So I am obliged to admit that Wednesday's episode was a great improvement, getting us back into an ongoing narrative and actually telling us things about the island and its environs.

Finally caught up with ''VM'' tonight. (Also this week's installment of ''The Office,'' where the workplace boredom-beating made for one of the truest, and best, episodes of the American show so far.) I am confused, concerned and delighted. I bow to series creator Rob Thomas, and to Diane Ruggiero, ''VM'' co-executive producer and a writer who has made an enormous contribution to the show.

Well, they did switch tribe members tonight, and Brooke was voted off by her reconfigured group, and Stephenie really is beginning to look cursed -- as she admits -- since even a change of tribe couldn't keep her out of tribal council.

The other day, my wife was checking out some baseball highlights online. (The best was that Ronnie Belliard catch.) Before some of the highlights showed, there was a promotional spot for hurricane relief.

On Tuesday, NBC announced a full-season pickup for ''My Name Is Earl,'' the very funny sitcom starring Jason Lee. Today, UPN gave a full-season order to ''Everybody Hates Chris,'' the even funnier sitcom based on Chris Rock's youth.

In a previous posting (''The Music of Vincent Chase'') I mentioned an upcoming ''Independent Lens'' documentary, ''Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under A Groove.'' It's due to air Oct. 11 here; check with your local PBS station for date and time -- and don't take no for an answer. I have now seen the documentary and it's great stuff: interviews, great video footage and, of course, the music of Parliament, Funkadelic, P-Funk .. whatever name you attach to George Clinton's musical coalition.